Page 30 - Barefoot guide

STORY

NO SPACE IS TOO SMALL

“I would love to grow more food for my children”, Adelina sighed. “But I don’t have land.”
Nelima smiled.
“You’ll be surprised at what you can do with little land. I live with my aunt in town – her yard is tiny, but
we use every bit of space, even the wall of the house. We grow lots of greens in hanging bottles, and the
tubers and bigger vegetables in small beds along the edge of the wall. We also have strong frames for
our butternuts to grow up rather than out.”
“All our land is used for the maize crop”, Yohanna said. “But perhaps I can use containers and small beds
near the homestead.”
“You know,” Joyce remarked, “We used to grow our pigeon peas, ground nuts and cowpeas
right between the rows of maize. It actually makes the maize grow better.”

“That’s true,” Nelima agreed. “The legumes fix nitrogen in the soil, and they provide soil cover that
conserves soil water during hot days all of which helps the maize to grow better. Many farmers find that
intercropping is a much better way to use the land than just growing one crop. That is how nature grows,
and new scientific research shows that if we study natural processes, and copy nature in how we grow
crops, we will get stronger plants, rich in nutrients and healthy soil that does not wear out in a few years. “
Rehema laughed. “Sometimes nature grows too much. Last year, I grew tomatoes. But they all ripened
at once and I couldn’t use them all. I tried to sell them, but the prices were so low because everyone was
trying to sell tomatoes.”

Everyone had ideas of what they could do about this. These were some ideas:

What to do with surplus crops

• dry or preserve your fruits and vegetables
• grow crops that come to harvest at different
times
• grow crops like cassava, moringa and fruit trees
that last more than a year
• co-ordinate with your neighbours – you can
grow different crops and exchange them
with each other.

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